Shawn Huda ’06 said he first discovered Let’s Get Ready (LGR) during his sophomore year at Tufts University. “As a product of a minority, single parent household, I was immediately drawn to the nonprofit’s mission: to help break the cycle of poverty by empowering students to attend college,” said Huda.
After graduating from Tufts in 2010, Huda went on to work as a program associate in LGR’s Boston office, overseeing multiple programs. He was given the unique role of managing their campaign for the American Giving Awards Competition. The contest’s final round, which ran through early December, was the culmination of a selective two-round competition. Just by qualifying for the finals, LGR was guaranteed at least $125,000, funding that would go a long way towards helping fuel the organization’s aggressive expansion goals. Under Huda’s management, LGR took second place, a ranking determined via the campaign’s Facebook voting drive, and won $500,000. Since winning, the organization has said, “Let’s Get Ready will utilize the $500,000 to expand programs and serve more students.”
“Let’s Get Ready works off a unique model that allows for maximum participation from high school and college students, while allowing the program to be completely free for the participants,” Huda said. LGR does not just supply SAT preparation, but also college application assistance, giving students guidance through every step of the process.
Huda truly epitomized Harker’s commitment to community outreach by working a semester as a verbal coach at LGR and three semesters as the director of the Tufts program. “I discovered major benefits of the model that mirrored tenets of the Harker experience: classes were kept small (five students, on average) to ensure individualized attention and guidance; students both at the high school and college levels were empowered to take greater responsibility and ownership inside the classroom and out; and rather than focusing solely on one aspect, the SAT, the program took a holistic approach to preparing students for the college application process,” Huda said.
January 15, 2012:
Several news outlets have published or broacast stories on the 29 Bay Area Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalists:
The UC Santa Cruz Astronomy and Astrophysics web page has a story noting four semi-finalists, including three Harker students worked on their projects while part of the UC Santa Cruz Science Internship Program.
January 11, 2012:
For the second year in a row, Harker broke the record for Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists in California, when 11 students, all of them in grade 12, were named at a morning assembly on Jan. 11. Prag Batra, Lucy Cheng, Nicole Dalal, Govinda Dasu, Michelle Deng, Vishesh Gupta, Revanth Kosaraju, Ramya Rangan, Pavitra Rengarajan, Kathryn Siegel and Albert Wu all received a $1,000 prize for the projects they submitted to the contest. This year’s competition had 1,839 entrants from nearly 500 high schools in 44 states, the District of Columbia and overseas. Of those, 300 students were selected as semifinalists. Only one school had more semifinalists than Harker in the entire country.
Last year, Harker broke the record for California with seven semifinalists, two of whom, Nikhil Parthasarathy ’11 and Rohan Mahajan ’11, were named finalists, making Harker the only school in the nation to produce two Intel finalists.
On Jan. 25, 40 finalists will be chosen to go to Washington, D.C. in March to compete for more than $1.25 million in awards from the Intel Foundation.
The students’ projects are as follows:
“Donor and Epitope Specific Variations in Immune Gene Expression in CMV Dextramer Positive CD8 T Cells,” by Nicole Dalal
“De Novo Splice From Discovery from RNA-Seq Data,” by Ramya Rangan
“Detailed Chemical Abundance Patterns of Andromeda Dwarf Satellites from Cadded Spectra,” by Lucy Cheng
“An Ontological Bayesian Framework for Context-Specific Navigation and Discovery of Biomedical Knowledge,” by Michelle Deng
“Determining the Genetic Target of Drugs Using a Synthetic Lethality Map,” by Kathryn Siegel
“Neuroanatomical and Cell Population Abnormalities Found in Mouse Model for Human Chromosome,” by Pavitra Rengaragan
“Role of Epidermal Hif-1 ALPHA in the Inflammatory and Angiogenic Response to Ischemia in Diabetic Wound Healing,” by Revanth Kosaraju
“Storage of Active Biological Compounds in Silk Films,” by Prag Batra
“Discovery of 16 Nearby Brown Dwarf Candidates in WISE Preliminary Release Data,” by Govinda Dasu
“Multi-net Bayesian Networks for Integrative Genomic Discovery: Application to the Epistatic Interactions for HIV,” by Albert Wu
“Use of Discretization Approach in Autonomous Control of an Active Extrados/Intrados Camber Morphing Wing,” by Vishesh Gupta
The Harker Orchestra, the upper school’s largest musical ensemble, returned from London earlier this month, after having performed during that city’s New Year celebration. They performed at the famous Cadogan Hall, and received a very enthusiastic response. “We had amazing energy that night as that was our first performance of the year, and to do so in Cadogan Hall was amazing,” said Chris Florio, director of the orchestra. “The audience’s spontaneous reaction was one of the highlights of my musical life because it was so genuine. They hadto stand up right away. I’ve never experienced that as a conductor.”
The students also had the opportunity to march in the London New Year’s Day parade, carrying the flags of the countries participating in this year’s summer Olympic games, which will take place in London. “Since we are not a marching band, this was an option for us, so I graciously accepted,” Florio said.
Students weren’t the only ones who considered the performances a highlight. Many Harker parents were also in attendance, and were ecstatic at how well the concerts went. “Almost immediately after the performances, parents started emailing each other, expressing how moved, proud and stunned they were at how well we performed,” said Florio. “Many audience members were brought to tears when our program was finished.”
The orchestra’s performances can now be viewed online through Cadogan Hall’s website. Their Dec. 29 performance begins at approximately one hour and three minutes into the video. The Dec. 31 performance begins at the 57-minute mark.
In mid-December, The Harker School’s lower school completed a service project that resulted in presents under the trees of many families who would not have otherwise been able to afford them. Joe Connolly, the dean of students K-5, said that while the massive toy drive at the lower school was a grade 4 service project, most of the lower school families donated a toy.
Grade 4 students went above and beyond by not only donating toys, but also counting the toys and loading them up for delivery. At the end of the project, 809 toys were delivered to Sacred Heart Community Services (SHCS) in San Jose.
As Connolly said in an email to lower school families, “The volunteers at SHCS were thrilled with the donation. Your donations went a long way towards helping them reach their goal of making sure that every child has a toy to enjoy.” Including Harker’s donation, more than 16,000 toys were donated, then set up and organized like a toy store for parents of children in need to choose from, resulting in a very merry Christmas day.
On Dec. 13, with winter break nearing, lower school families filled the Bucknall Theater for the grade 1 holiday show. Titled “The Search for Old Man Winter,” the show featured students from every grade 1 homeroom singing holiday tunes such as “Old Man Winter,” “A Chubby Little Snowman,” “Take Me Back to Toyland” and “Winter Wonderland.” In between songs, groups of students narrated the show, and Joe Connolly, lower school dean of students, guest-starred as Old Man Winter.
The show was wonderfully directed by performing arts teacher Kellie Binney, with superb technical direction by technical theater teacher Danny Dunn. Accompanists Paul Woodruff and his wife, Toni, again provided great musical backing to the student singers.
After the show, with the spirit of the season fresh in their minds, families gathered in the lobby to socialize and enjoy holiday treats.
The Harker School had two medical students – who also happen to be Harker graduates – stop by upper school science teacher Anita Chetty’s classroom in late November. Alfred See and Geetanjali Vajapey, both from the Class of 2004, spoke to three different classes about what being in med school is really like, giving soon-to-be-college students an insider’s look into both the major and the career it leads to.
They emphasized that the skills one needs to become a doctor are not found entirely in books or classrooms. In fact, what you learn in school means nothing if you can’t calmly and professionally apply the knowledge to a human being in need. One needs the ability to remain calm in emergency situations (something doctors may deal with almost daily) and to have excellent customer service skills (as doctors speak with many patients every week).
The pair of students was home for Thanksgiving break when they decided to drop in and surprise Chetty, their former teacher. See, Chetty says, was also interviewing for a residency. Chetty was pleased to see both of them, especially considering they were only home for a few days. It’s a nice reminder that Harker is truly a family – even after graduation – whose students are always willing to share their time and expertise.
Lower school instrumentalists and singers were the stars during the Winter Concert on Dec. 6, which featured five ensembles performing lesser-known classics and familiar favorites. Joe Connolly, dean of students K-5, acted as master of ceremonies, while Danny Dunn’s lower and middle school technical theater students made sure the show went off without a hitch.
Louis Hoffman led the Lower School Orchestra in performing Jacques Offensbach’s “Can Can” and “Rosamunde Overture” by Franz Schubert. Hoffman also directed the Lower School Jazz Ensemble, who performed “St. James Infirmary” by Joe Primrose and “Doin’ My Thing” by Jimmy McGriff.
The evening also featured Harker’s two preparatory ensembles. Rick Leder conducted the preparatory wind ensemble’s performances of the American traditional “Go Tell Aunt Rodie,” the theme from “New World Symphony” by Antonin Dvorak and “Boogie Blues” by Bruce Pearson and Ryan Nowlin. Conducted by Toni Woodruff, the preparatory string ensemble played “I Have a Song to Sing, Oh” by Arthur Sullivan and brought some holiday cheer to the show with the traditional “Christmas Fiddlers in the Hall.”
The Bucknall Choir, directed by Jennifer Cowgill, sang a traditional Hanukkah song titled “Hanerot Halalu,” the hymn “Panis Angelicus” by Cesar Franck and, in the spirit of the holiday season, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
For the last song of the evening, Hoffman brought together his orchestra and jazz band for the fun-filled finale, a performance of the theme from the immensely popular mobile game “Angry Birds,” with the students and conductor wearing hats shaped like characters from the game.
Grades 2 and 3 came together on Dec. 15 to perform at their annual holiday show, this year titled “December in Our Town,” directed by lower school music teacher Kellie Binney and held at the Bucknall Theater. Both classes kicked off the show with a performance of the show’s title tune, composed by Roger Emerson. Grade 2 then took center stage and performed a series of holiday songs, both modern and classic, such as “Deck the Halls,” “O Christmas Tree” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” which featured choreography by Stephanie Bayer. The students of grade 3 then performed their own set, singing “Jingle Bells,” “Let it Snow,” “Kwanzaa Celebration” and others. The two classes reunited on stage for the final two songs, “A Visit From Saint Nick” and “Somewhere in My Memory.”
Technical theater teacher Danny Dunn and her grade 5 technical theater class kept the show running smoothly, while veteran accompanists Paul Woodruff on piano and Toni Woodruff on violin provided splendid musical support to the student singers.
Saratoga News – Nov. 15, 2011: In a story on Siemens contest finalists, students Lucy Cheng, grade 12, and Paulomi Bhattacharya, grade 11, receive mention for being named regional finalists in October.
San Jose Mercury News – Nov. 11, 2011: Student Sahil Kapur, grade 6, is featured in a story about the unique date of the year, referred to as “11/11/11.” Amazingly, the date was Kapur’s 11th birthday, which he celebrated by playing 11 holes of golf, inviting 11 friends to his birthday party and cutting the birthday cake at 11:11 p.m.
San Jose Mercury News – Nov. 1, 2011: The Harker School is recognized for earning second place in the 2011 Fall Startup Event math contest, in which Patrick Yang, grade 12, placed first in the grade 12 division.
Silicon Valley Community Newspapers – Oct. 28, 2011: Alex Najibi, grade 12, is profiled in a story about a website he created, www.goOutAndHelp.org, that assists students in finding places where they can perform community service.
San Jose Mercury News – Sept. 14, 2011: Receiver Daanish Jamal, grade 12, is mentioned in Varsity Extra’s “Highlight Reel” for his three-touchdown performance against Emery. Colby Rapson ’10 is also commended in “Movin’ On Up” for role in helping the U.C. Berkeley men’s rowing team, for which she is coxswain, complete an undefeated season.
In mid-December, before school let out for winter break, The Harker School’s middle school campus hosted a holiday brunch in the Blackford Theater for more than 80 parents. Tere Aceves, the director of K-8 volunteer programs and event fundraising, said the theater was decorated in white and gold, and set up as a truly social event.
“We want to start building a stronger sense of community in the middle school, so our purpose was to provide an outlet where parents could come and enjoy time with their peers,” Aceves said. She also noted that being able to see parents reconnect, sometimes after many years, was a wonderful experience. “They hugged, they giggled, and they were very happy. It actually seemed they needed more time together – they didn’t want to stop talking!”
In addition to being a great opportunity to learn more about the middle school community, Aceves said the interactions and all-around good times had by the parents let her know something else: that “we are definitely doing this again next year.”